In A Quiet Place, if you make a noise, you’re dead. In Bird Box, if you see the monster (which, of course, we don’t ever see - LAME), you’ll kill yourself; at least, some people. Sensory deprivation horror has two recent monster hits. A Quiet Place at the theaters and on many ten best lists of 2018 and Bird Box, one of Netflix’ most streamed programs. I won’t debate which one is better and why; we do that on the latest Cinemondo Podcast (available January 14, 2019). What I do want to do is a pitch a new sensory deprivation thriller. This one has to do with the sense of smell. Working title: Ol Factory. Slogan: Scentsless Killing. meh.

Here’s the logline: seven people must fight off a set of beings from another dimension that have really bad body odor. I kid. How about something like this? Seven astronauts land on a distant planet. They investigate a repeating beacon. They come upon a weird, enormous spaceship that was designed by HH Giger. Sorry.

Okay, this is the high concept pitch: If you smell the monster, you go blind. If you see the monster, you become deaf. If you hear the monster, you lose your sense of smell. So, depending on what happens to each of the main characters, they have to use each other’s senses to survive. A tale of loss, but ultimately of survival, camaraderie and ultimately hope. Now of course, the person that has lost the sense of smell is probably in the best shape here. But the curveball - the planet is 97% sulphur! C’mon people, who’s with me? Call Sony!